Black history is American history

Another African American History Month has ended, but discussion of the future of the observance that began 90 years ago as Negro History Week should continue. Evidence of that can be found in the personal essays included in the "Black History: What I Wish I Knew" series published through February in The Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com.

Collated by staff writer Sofiya Ballin, with accompanying portraits by photographer Michael Bryant, the essays asserted the importance of schools' providing a comprehensive study of black history. Here's what some of the writers said they never learned:

Jazmine Sullivan, Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter: "What I don't recall learning . . . was how the enslaved blacks used their gift of music to send messages through Negro spirituals. On the surface you would think they're talking about dying and going to heaven. But what it really meant was that somebody was about to move through the mysterious Underground Railroad . . . to freedom."

Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor, Mother Bethel AME Church: "I didn't even learn about the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Bishop Richard Allen . . . Who would've known back then that I would one day occupy the pulpit of Bishop Allen's historic church?"

Lorene Carey, author: "I was not taught how men who had just fought for liberty could classify black people as less than human in the U.S. Constitution, or how the people themselves resisted, how they dared to rock-climb up the rough side of the mountain to glory."

Cory Wade, model' musician, and activist: "It wasn't until President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 that I even knew who Bayard Rustin was. I was astonished to learn that the primary organizer of the March on Washington in 1963 was openly gay! . . . I aspire to access that level of strength and courage within my own activism."

Biographers say Carter G. Woodson, author of The Mis-Education of the Negro, looked forward to the day when the annual celebration of Negro history that he founded in 1926 would no longer be necessary. For that to happen, American history courses must be more inclusive.

The Philadelphia School District provides a good model for others to follow. Since 2005, it has mandated an African American history course as a high school graduation requirement. District officials say black history is also stressed in regular American history classes.

That makes sense. Incorporating the stories of African Americans and other minorities to provide more comprehensive history lessons to high school and younger students will make it easier for them to understand exactly how this country evolved into what it has become today.